The Underrated Burger Smackdown: Brick + Mortar Vs. The Original Tops

Los Angeles has plenty of much-hyped burgers. Some would say we have quite a few over-hyped burgers. But we're also a city of relatively unknown burgers, some of them deserving of their own notoriety. It was with this in mind that we set out to find the city's most underrated burger, with your help.

The Original TOPS got a lot of love in the original round of nominations, with most nominators referring to the the TOPS Special, a 1/4 pound burger topped with pastrami, mustard and American cheese, as well as lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickle, and thousand island dressing.

The TOPS Special is an outrageous burger, a monstrous gut bomb of a thing, piled with pastrami and oozing pink thousand island dressing. I only ate half of one and it put me out of commission for a good part of the day. I can see how this is a cult favorite, the sloppy messy fun of it being somewhat irresistible. I found the burger itself a touch underwhelming, however. Just to be sure, I tried a cheeseburger as well, and again found more the pleasure in the toppings -- the crisp lettuce, the pickles, etc -- than the meat of the burger or the bun. TOPS is fast food and doesn't aim to be anything but that, and there's no doubt the TOPS Special is indeed special. But its specialness is all in the novelty of having half a Reuben piled on top of your kind of average burger.

On the other hand, the chuck burger at Brick and Mortar is all about the burger itself. Yes, the toppings are quite good: cheddar, tomato, and grilled onion marmalade. There's a nice kick of heat in an otherwise subtle horseradish mayo. But the star of the show here is the meat, a hulking patty of ground chuck that's juicy and savory and everything a $14 burger should be, brioche bun included. There's less piggy glory to this burger than the TOPS contender -- it's a far more straightforward affair.

And the winner is ...

As much as I'd love to go with the cheaper, more fun, more proletariat TOPS Special, the winner here has to be Brick and Mortar's chuck burger. Not because it's fancier or thicker -- I adore a good fast food burger. But because the burger itself was tastier. So, all hail L.A.'s no-longer underrated burger!!